Sheboygan girl dreams up solutions to bullying

Makayla Zavrl, 9, poses with her cat at her home Tuesday March 8, 2016 in Sheboygan. Zavrl was bullied and her family took steps to help stop the problems.(Photo: Gary C. Klein/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

Makayla Zavrl and her father, Zack, felt like they had done everything right. The 9-year-old girl studies hard, spends her spare time working on physical fitness and takes seriously her leadership role on the student council at Longfellow Elementary School in Sheboygan.

And so imagine the father-daughter pair’s shock and frustration when third-grader Makayla was spat on by one classmate last year and recently faced a rape threat from another.

Zack was told by the school that the boy who made the rape comment may not have understood the word and thought it was simply an obscenity, but it still threw the father for a loop.

“It’s overwhelming,” he said.

Zack explained how the most recent incidents were the culmination of ongoing bullying that ranged from Makayla and her friends being called names, chased or having snow shoved in their faces.

However, Longfellow Principal Pam Davis does not believe there is a bullying problem at the school, and administrators assured USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin each incident is thoroughly addressed.

Zack said the school investigated the situation and have reached out to the parents of the child who made the rape comment to discuss the next course of action, which makes him “feel better.”

But, administrators were limited in how many details they could share with Zack about their disciplinary action, so he does not know what to expect from the child in the future.

Despite the school’s best efforts, sometimes Makayla lies awake at night replaying the incidents in her mind, wondering if she somehow inspired the boys’ actions.

“I just feel scared and sad, and kind of angry sometimes,” Makayla said with an exasperated sigh.

Zack cannot help but feel concerned about the future as Makayla and her classmates draw nearer to their pre-teen years. It is important to him that the schoolboys learn now what lines cannot be crossed.

Really, Zack shouldn’t have to worry. He knows his daughter can defend herself as a result of karate classes and every fiber of his being wants to tell her to “punch the next person who spits in your face,” but he realizes that could create more problems than solutions in a school setting.

“She’s much calmer than I would be in those situations,” Zack said.

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Makayla Zavrl, 9, demonstrates her karate skills in her home Tuesday March 8, 2016 in Sheboygan. Zavrl was bullied and her family took steps to help stop the problems.(Photo: Gary C. Klein/USA TODAY Network-Wisconsin)

Bullying in the district: stats and procedure

Zack said he has been in touch with administrators at Longfellow Elementary School who investigated the latest incident, but school officials could not elaborate for privacy reasons.

Davis said in incidents like these, each student is spoken to separately to ensure one does not influence the other. Several witnesses of the incident, especially teachers, are interviewed and a consequence is decided upon.

Davis does not believe there is a bullying problem at Longfellow Elementary.

“However, we do have student conflicts,” she said.

The district defines student conflicts as incidents where both children are equally contributing to the problem, either verbally or physically, or when there is a one-time, one-sided incident.

In contrast, “bullying” is typically reserved for cases where there is continual, one-sided harassment from someone who has more power—such as being older—than the victim.

However, Seth Harvatine, assistant superintendent of student and instructional services, explained that it is difficult to give a “clean, clear” definition for bullying, and so the district and schools tend to categorize on a “case by case basis” after each investigation.

Davis said that if parents have any concerns about their children being bullied, she hopes they will meet with her to discuss the situation. She can organize a "Problem Solving Team" meeting in which a teacher, counselor and administrator speak with a parent and child “who may be feeling overwhelmed” in order to “problem solve and come up with ways to support the student.”

Longfellow Elementary School also has a host of preventative measures for bullying. Through the Positive Behavior and Intervention Supports (PBIS) program, a school team regularly meets to analyze behavior data from the institution and develop new ways to support students and reinforce school-wide goals for positive behavior and interactions.

For example, “Cool Tools” are developed to encourage student involvement in the effort to report and minimize bullying. An example of a Cool Tool would be the Stop, Walk and Talk procedure (tell the person to stop, walk away and report to a teacher).

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Makayla Zavrl, 9, plays with her cat at her home Tuesday March 8, 2016 in Sheboygan. Zavrl was bullied and her family took steps to help stop the problems.(Photo: Gary C. Klein/USA TODAY Network-Wisconsin)

According to Sheboygan Area School District data provided by Harvatine, there were 56 cases of bullying in the elementary schools, 41 cases in the middle schools and 32 cases in the high schools for the 2014-15 school year.

At every grade level, approximately half of the incidents took place within the classroom. Harvatine explained this is most likely because students “spend the majority of their day” in a classroom setting.

The strong majority of incidents were verbal in nature at every grade level, except for elementary schools where 29 cases were verbal and 23 were physical.

Of the 56 cases at the elementary level last year, six occurred at Longfellow. For the 2013-14 school year, there were 75 bullying incidents at the elementary level with 28 taking place at Longfellow.

So far, there have been 22 bullying cases at the elementary level this school year, with only three incidents occurring at Longfellow.

While the number of incidents may seem low to some people, Harvatine said bullying has become a “buzzword for the general population,” which results in some incidents that would be more accurately categorized as conflicts or disagreements between children quickly being dubbed as “bullying" by the public.

Nevertheless, the school works to ensure that resolutions are found in any situation, whether it be a conflict or bullying.

“Our ultimate goal is to make sure the schools are a safe environment for everyone,” Harvatine said.

'The Bully Box' idea

While Makayla can defend herself, she's always looking for ways to help prevent bullying of others at her school. The third-grader recalls times that she’s walked hand-in-hand with other children who were too scared of retaliation to be seen reporting bullying to a teacher alone.

She knows how hard the first step can be, and that is why the idea of a “Bully Box” came to her.

“It would be a metal box that says ‘Bully Box’ on the outside and has a lock and a little hole on the top for papers,” Makayla said. “The papers would say where the bullying happened, what the bully said or did, who did it and who they did it to.”

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Makayla Zavrl, 9, runs to her dad Zack near her home Tuesday March 8, 2016 in Sheboygan. Zavrl was bullied and her family took steps to help stop the problems.(Photo: Gary C. Klein/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Davis said she has spoken to the school counselor about the “Bully Box” idea and “it has moved on to our leadership team.” Davis welcomes any suggestions from parents and kids to continually improve the school’s efforts.

Makayla and her father intend to keep her at the school, especially after administrators at Longfellow Elementary expressed their desire to have her remain at the school and how they want to “make sure she feels comfortable and safe.”

Makayla wants to stay at the school because she enjoys the teachers and programs, but she also wants to keep making a difference in the district by combating bullying with her ideas and support of fellow victims.

“I just know what it’s like,” Makayla said of her efforts to make a difference in the lives of other victims.